I somehow compare this movie to an older movie with Hugh Grant and Gene Hackman, Extreme Measures. It seems as though the audience is supposed to like Anthony Hopkins because the people he has enacted his revenge on is somewhat justified, just like in Extreme Measures, what Hackman was doing possibly good for the medical world by immorally killing a test subject. You’re supposed to hate Gosling at first by being a hotshot and not caring about the case, until you see his failure and want to cheer him on to give you the twist of the movie to see if he can find a way to capture Hopkins at his own game.

Most good mystery type movies will give the viewer tons of hints along the way. ( ed. spoiler alert coming) This movie drops ideas such as Hopkins metal ball thing, Hopkins stating his opinion about an x-ray of a fracture, and Hopkins telling Gosling he should look at the not so obvious and some comment about a cup of coffee. Oddly enough, this movie does not use any of those moments to clue in the viewer. In fact, all those little details are never used. Was the script later changed? Why call this movie Fracture if you don’t relate it to an actual fracture. The dearly departed wife did not have a fracture, she had a shot to the head, and died of being taken off of life support. The fact that Hopkins' character is some sort of medical doctor is irrelevant. The idea that Gosling’s character “breaks” is the supposed Fracture, but he didn’t really break on screen.

The director uses some very nice images in his filming but does not get the well rounded characters you need for a movie of this sort. An unfortunate lack of screen time and character is also given to David Strathairn who is usually a welcome supporting actor. The hot shot who becomes humbled, the bad guy who can’t stop while he’s ahead and the “twist” ending. Nothing new with Fracture and only amusing enough for a rental.